Plant Controls Technician - Food Manufacturing Automation

Kelly Services; Romeoville (IL); On-site; USD 55,000 - 63,000; Full time

Job summary

Kelly is seeking a skilled Controls Technician in Romeoville, IL to support, maintain, and improve plant electrical and control systems including PLCs, HMIs, servo drives, and related equipment. The role emphasizes troubleshooting, root-cause analysis, and training maintenance staff across shifts.

You will ensure safe operation, update documentation, and collaborate with supervisors to keep production on track. Travel for training or parts procurement may be required.

Qualifications

• Previous experience as a Controls Technician, Automation Technician, or similar role in manufacturing (food industry experience preferred).
• Strong troubleshooting aptitude - electrical, mechanical, and automation.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced production environment under pressure.

Responsibilities

• Inspect, troubleshoot, repair, and maintain food processing and packaging equipment.
• Perform corrective, preventive, and scheduled maintenance on a wide variety of automated equipment.
• Diagnose and repair mechanical, electrical, pneumatic, hydraulic, and control-system issues.
• Install, program, and troubleshoot PLCs, HMIs, servo drives, VFDs, and related systems.
• Lead troubleshooting efforts during downtime and expedite equipment recovery.
• Maintain secondary plant systems (steam, chilled water, pneumatics, HVAC, electrical distribution, refrigeration, etc.).

Skills

Electrical troubleshooting

PLC programming

Root-cause analysis

Maintenance planning

Documentation

Team coordination

Tools

RSLogix

FactoryTalk View

VFDs

SAP CMMS

Job description

Kelly is seeking a skilled Controls Technician in Romeoville, IL to support, maintain, and improve plant electrical and control systems including PLCs, HMIs, servo drives, and related equipment. The role emphasizes troubleshooting, root-cause analysis, and training maintenance staff across shifts.

You will ensure safe operation, update documentation, and collaborate with supervisors to keep production on track. Travel for training or parts procurement may be required.